Our bedding consisted of one blanket as
mattress and haversack for pillow. The 25th Infantry was assigned to
the bottom deck, where there was no light, except the small port holes
when the gang-plank was closed. So dark was it that candles were
burned all day. There was no air except what came down the canvass air
shafts when they were turned to the breeze. The heat of that place was
almost unendurable. Still our Brigade Commander issued orders that no
one would be allowed to sleep on the main deck. That order was the
only one to my knowledge during the whole campaign that was not obeyed
by the colored soldiers. It is an unreported fact that a portion of
the deck upon which the 25th Infantry took passage to Cuba was flooded
with water during the entire journey.
Before leaving Port Tampa the Chief Surgeon of the expedition came
aboard and made an inspection, the result of which was the taking off
of the ship the volunteer battalion, leaving still on board about a
thousand men. Another noteworthy fact is that for seven days the boat
was tied to the wharf at Port Tampa, and we were not allowed to go
ashore, unless an officer would take a whole company off to bathe and
exercise. This was done, too, in plain sight of other vessels, the
commander of which gave their men the privilege of going ashore at
will for any purpose whatever. It is very easy to imagine the hardship
that was imposed upon us by withholding the privilege of going ashore,
when it is understood that there were no seats on the vessel for a
poor soldier.
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